Aamina Ahmad

Last updated
Aamina Ahmad
Born London, U.K.
OccupationWriter, novelist
Alma mater University College London
Iowa Writers' Workshop
Stanford University
Notable worksThe Dishonoured (2016)
The Return of Faraz Ali (2022)

Aamina Ahmad is a British fiction writer and playwright based in the U.S. She has two book publications, the play The Dishonoured and the novel The Return of Faraz Ali, which was named a "new work to read" by The New York Times , [1] "quietly stunning" by The New York Times Book Review , [2] and a "most anticipated" book by both The Millions [3] and Book Culture. [4] She is a creative writing professor at the University of Minnesota [5] and the winner of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award. [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Early life and education

Ahmad was born and raised in London. [9] In 1996, she graduated from University College London, where she studied English. [10] She later moved to the United States to attend the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she studied fiction and graduated in 2013. [7] After two further years of teaching at the University of Iowa, she served as a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University for two years, finishing the program in 2017. [11] [12]

Career

Ahmad worked for many years as a script editor for BBC Drama, ITV, and BBC World Service. [10] As a playwright, she participated in development programs including with the UK Film Council and the Royal Court Theatre [13] and her first full-length play The Dishonoured won a Screencraft Stage Play Award [14] and was nominated for an Off-West End Award. [15] The 2016 play is a thriller about murder, espionage, and politics, [16] which The Guardian rated three out of five stars in a review that criticized the director and the staging's transitions. [17]

Ahmad's debut novel, The Return of Faraz Ali, was published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Books, in 2022. In the novel, the titular character Faraz Ali returns to his hometown in Pakistan to help cover up a girl's death. [18] [2] The book was praised by Yaa Gyasi, Adam Johnson, and Anthony Marra. [19] [20] It received various positive review from magazines and journals including a starred review from Kirkus Reviews , [21] The New York Times Book Review , [2] Bitch magazine, [22] and a starred review from Library Journal. [23] Publishers Weekly was critical of the "jarring" transitions as perspectives and time periods changed. [24]

In 2022, Ahmad became a professor in the University of Minnesota's creative writing department. [5] She previously served as a lecturer in composition and creative writing for San Jose State University from 2017 to 2022, as well as a visiting professor of creative writing at Mills College in Oakland, CA from 2020 to 2021. [10] [25] [26] Her short stories have been published in The Southern Review , [27] The Normal School , [28] The Missouri Review , [29] Ecotone , [30] and And the World Changed. [31] She won a Pushcart Prize for her story "The Red One Who Rocks" which was originally published in 2019 in One Story. [32] [33] [34] In an essay in Literary Hub , Ahmad discussed literary relationships and the influence of her mother on her fiction. [35]

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References

  1. ↑ Khatib, Joumana; Egan, Elisabeth (2022-03-25). "18 New Works of Fiction to Read This Spring". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  2. 1 2 3 Akkad, Omar El (2022-04-01). "Murder in the Mohalla". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  3. ↑ "The Millions: The Return of Faraz Ali: A Novel by Aamina Ahmad". 13 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  4. ↑ "The Return of Faraz Ali: A Novel (Hardcover) | Book Culture". www.bookculture.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  5. 1 2 English (5 April 2022). "New Professors in English". College of Liberal Arts. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  6. ↑ "Winner, Aamina Ahmad". RJF. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  7. 1 2 "Rona Jaffe Award to Workshop Alumna Aamina Ahmad | Iowa Writers' Workshop | College of Liberal Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa". writersworkshop.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  8. ↑ 2017 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award Winner – Aamina Ahmad, 26 August 2017, retrieved 2022-04-07
  9. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad". Hachette UK. 2020-06-29. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  10. 1 2 3 Ahmad, Aamina. "Aamina Ahmad" . Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad – Ecotone". ecotonemagazine.org. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  12. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  13. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad". Kali Theatre. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  14. ↑ "2019 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition Winners Announced". ScreenCraft. 2020-04-15. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  15. ↑ "Winners of the Offies announced | WhatsOnStage". www.whatsonstage.com. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  16. ↑ "The Dishonoured". Kali Theatre. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  17. ↑ "The Dishonoured review – debut thriller with a few too many twists and turns". the Guardian. 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  18. ↑ "The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad: 9780593330180 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  19. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad". Aamina Ahmad. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  20. ↑ "9th Ave: Aamina Ahmad with Ruchika Tomar". Funcheap. 2022-04-04. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  21. ↑ The Return of Faraz Ali.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ "BitchReads: 10 Books Feminists Should Read in April". Bitch Media. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  23. ↑ Aamina, Ahmad. "The Return of Faraz Ali". Library Journal. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  24. ↑ "The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad". www.publishersweekly.com. 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  25. ↑ "Our Faculty | Department of English and Comparative Literature". www.sjsu.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  26. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad Reading & Presentation". College of Liberal Arts. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  27. ↑ "The Southern Review : Issue: Summer 2019". thesouthernreview.org. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  28. ↑ "Volume 7, Issue 2". The Normal School. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  29. ↑ "July Sun | The Missouri Review" . Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  30. ↑ "The Discarded – Ecotone". ecotonemagazine.org. March 2016. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  31. ↑ "And the World Changed". Feminist Press. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  32. ↑ "Aamina Ahmad Wins a Pushcart Prize". nurnberg.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  33. ↑ "One Story – Stories [ Issue #259 ]". www.one-story.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  34. ↑ "One Story – Awards". www.one-story.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  35. ↑ "The Secret Lives of Writers and Mothers". Literary Hub. 2022-04-06. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
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